FAQ
Given the number of years Wheel of Fortune has been on and the scope of this Wiki, there are some frequently-asked questions about various elements. This page will attempt to answer some of them. General/Miscellaneous Was the show always called Wheel of Fortune? The show was originally called Shopper's Bazaar when it was first developed in 1973. The more familiar title appears to have been introduced in early August 1974, as a Variety blurb from July 31 uses the original name. Does the 1973 pilot still exist? While creator Merv Griffin and Lin Bolen (then NBC's Vice President of Daytime Programming) did not like it, admitting its shortcomings during the show's E! True Hollywood Story, Shopper's Bazaar nonetheless exists and can be found online. Interestingly, Wheel is aware of this fact. The most likely reason why it never showed up anywhere until 2012 is music rights, as instrumental versions of "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" and "Spinning Wheel" were used as the main and commercial outro themes, respectively. How many versions have there been? In the United States, three: the original 1975-91 daytime series, the 1983-current nighttime run, and the 1997-98 spinoff Wheel 2000. The show has been exported to quite a few countries since 1975; info on them can be found here, including two adaptations of Wheel 2000. So why did the daytime version end? The daytime show's demise can be traced back to several factors, all following Pat's departure: * His replacement by Rolf Benirschke, a former football player who had rarely been on television and never hosted a game show until doing an audition for Merv's Windfall (which led to Wheel). While a genial person, Rolf was visibly nervous and uncomfortable initially; this was not helped by a single pre-emption which caused his first four shows to air the same week as Pat's last day. * The Price Is Right continuing to climb the Nielsen ratings and, despite being head to head with the show's first half, Wheel managing to remain consistent in the audience figures it had prior to Pat's departure. While it is likely that some of the Wheel audience tuned out after Pat left, this was clearly a negligible number. * As a result of the show becoming a progressively more distant #2 in the ratings, NBC and Merv were unable to come up with a license fee agreement. NBC cancelled the show, kicking them out from Burbank after the June 30 episode despite the studio contract being scheduled to expire in 1990. CBS quickly picked up Wheel for a July 17 return, giving it an audiovisual makeover and a new host in Bob Goen. * At about this point, the game show genre as a whole began a downslide that would not fully manifest until 1995. Upon moving to CBS, the Wheel ratings began falling, which did not stop even after returning to the NBC schedule in January 1991. * Following the return to NBC, the show held at least three play-by-phone contests in an attempt to boost ratings; none worked, and may have been seen as a last-ditch grab for ratings. Daytime Wheel took its last bow on September 20, 1991 after three weeks of repeats, having made a grand total of 4,215 episodes. What about Wheel 2000? While the child-oriented version followed in its adult predecessors' footsteps by consistently being #1 among CBS' children's programming, it finished (after its last first-run episode on February 7, 1998) in 46th place overall with approximately 350,000 viewers. This was still better than the average for the entire lineup CBS was offering that season, which continually ran a distant fourth with a 0.5 (about 190,000 viewers). On January 8, with five episodes left to air, CBS announced that it would be overhauling its weekend schedule, replacing everything with new cartoons by Nelvana (Anatole, Mythic Warriors, Birdz, and Flying Rhino Junior High). Birdz ran for just one season of 13 episodes, while the others got two seasons and 26 episodes. The show's demise has actually left at least one notable effect on the adult version: unlike Jep! (a child-oriented version of Jeopardy! whose one-season demise paved the way for regular Kids' Weeks), the adult Wheel has never used children as contestants, even during a 2011 Family Week that was sponsored and promoted by Wendy's solely through their Kids' Meals. Why are relatively few daytime episodes out there? From the 1940s-70s, networks generally saw television as one-time programming. The 1960s-70s were particularly notable for the practice of wiping, which affected hundreds of shows including Wheel; the last network to quit was NBC, in 1980. According to a King World representative in 2006, it was policy at Merv Griffin Productions/Enterprises to wipe and reuse the tapes, a policy they held until mid-1985. Aside from this, Game Show Network has never held the rights to air the daytime version, only airing three episodes as part of a marathon after Merv's death in 2007. A list of daytime episodes that we know to exist can be viewed here. Additions and corrections are of course appreciated. When Wheel was mentioned in Billy Joel's 1989 historical song We Didn't Start the Fire, which version was it referencing? While the show's placement between "Russians in Afghanistan" and "Sally Ride" covers the 1979-83 timeframe, the lack of any 1980-82 events would appear to suggest nighttime (despite it debuting about three months after Ride's space trip in June 1983). Winners What is the biggest one-round record to date? $54,000, set on February 18, 2005 and tied on October 24 of that year plus February 7, 2007. All three were in the Speed-Up round. That said, it is not the most money that could have been won. That record is $62,400, accumulated during Round 3 on December 5, 1985. What is the main-game record to date? $69,300, set on December 21, 2012. How many $100,000 winners are there to date? 30, the first being on December 19, 2001. Note that this only counts those who won the $100,000 cash prize in the Bonus Round, rather than exceeding $100,000 otherwise. Interestingly, two puzzles have each led to a pair of $100,000 wins: BRAINS AND BRAWN on January 24, 2006 and December 16, 2010, BACK IN A FLASH on May 15, 2006 and April 26, 2012. The inverse is also true, with QUALITY TIME leading to a $100,000 loss on February 18, 2005 and September 21, 2010. How many $1,000,000 winners are there to date? One: Michelle Loewenstein, on October 14, 2008. Her total was $1,026,080. (As an aside, the largest non-millionaire record is $147,000, set on December 28, 2012 through a $100,000 win.) Staff Who was the first host? This depends on whether the 1974 pilots are included. If one goes by the name Wheel of Fortune, then Edd Byrnes was the first host. If only aired episodes count, then Chuck Woolery was the first host; Chuck also hosted the 1973 pilot. Based on questions asked to audience members by current announcer Jim Thornton, the show itself takes the stance that Chuck was the first host. Who was the first hostess? Susan Stafford, who had been a syndicated radio host beginning around 1971. According to Thornton, who sometimes asks this question to audience members at the show's current base of Culver City, nobody has ever been able to give the correct answer. Who was the first announcer? Mike Lawrence if one includes the pilots, Charlie O'Donnell otherwise. If Chuck, Susan, and Charlie were so great, why did they leave? Charlie left in mid-1980 after then-NBC head Fred Silverman announced the show was to be cancelled on August 1. He signed a commitment to the upcoming Toni Tennille Show shortly before the cancellation was overturned and, under the belief that "a handshake is my word", opted to stay with it. Chuck left due to a salary dispute with Merv, wanting a raise in his annual pay from $65,000 to $500,000 (in line with what other emcees made) because Wheel was drawing a 44 share. Merv offered $400,000, and NBC agreed to pay the remaining $100,000 until Merv threatened to move the show to CBS. NBC withdrew the offer, and Chuck's last episode aired December 25, 1981. Susan departed because she wanted to do humanitarian work. She took a trip to India in Summer 1982 and, after seeing the plight many people were in, felt that turning letters for the past seven years was not really a way for a grown woman to live her life. Many have noted that Susan seems visibly distracted on her last episodes. While her last regular episode aired October 22, Stafford returned to fill in for her successor for the daytime week of June 16, 1986. Has anyone announced the show besides Charlie O'Donnell, Jack Clark, or Jim Thornton? In order of appearance: * Don Morrow filled in as announcer in August 1980 between O'Donnell's departure and Jack's hiring. * Beginning on May 9, 1988, Charlie began filling in for Jack on nighttime, while both he and Johnny Gilbert (Jeopardy!) filled in on daytime. * M. G. Kelly announced both versions from roughly September 5, 1988 to February 17, 1989, barring the two nighttime weeks taped at Radio City Music Hall (aired November 14-25, 1988), which were announced by Don Pardo. * Gilbert filled in for Charlie on the weeks of November 27 and December 4, 1995. This stretch of episodes is notable for an exchange between him and Pat on the 29th: at the top of the show, Pat joked that Wheel "isn't like Jeopardy!, where if you finish in second place with $10,000, you get a lounge chair!", to which Johnny replied, "But it's a $10,000 lounge chair." * Gilbert also did part of the intro on April 1, 1997. * Following Charlie's death on November 1, 2010, the show underwent a rotation of guest announcers comprising Gilbert, Rich Fields, Jim Thornton, Lora Cain, Joe Cipriano, and John Cramer. How did Pat Sajak and Vanna White get the roles? Pat, then a weatherman at KNBC, was noticed by Merv for his quirky and odd sense of humor. However, then-head of NBC Fred Silverman rejected the decision, claiming Sajak was "too local"; Merv opted to cease tapings until Pat was hired, which only happened after Silverman left the network. Vanna was selected from hundreds of applicants to do on-air auditions to replace Susan, and was chosen due to her chemistry with Pat. According to Vanna, the only reason Merv would give her is that she turned the letters better than anyone else. So what happened to Susan? She devoted her life to charity work and medicine, earning a B.A. in Nutrition and an M.A. in Clinical Psychology from Antioch University, plus a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Pacific Western University. Her official website has a full list of her accomplishments. Unfortunately, her association with Wheel was quickly forgotten after Vannamania took off: a 1987 Chicago Tribune interview with her began by outright assuming the reader did not know who she was, while Susan herself became a bit annoyed and bothered that most people would say "You mean you were Vanna White before Vanna White?" upon telling them what she used to do. The 1995 book Popular Culture, Educational Discourse, and Mathematics evidently did not see anything prior to Vanna's hiring, as it stated that Wheel "broke ground" by declaring Vanna a "hostess" and giving her equal billing with Pat, despite Susan having the former during her tenure and the latter at least twice (once with Chuck in 1981, again with Pat in 1986). Wheel itself has very rarely acknowledged Susan's contributions, and she was not credited on the Byrnes footage that aired on the ceremonial 3,000th nighttime episode in 1998. Why did Nancy Jones leave the show in 1995? Nancy, who produced the show since its 1975 debut and had been the sole producer since April 1976, was dismissed over concerns by Sony that Wheel had become "tired and dated" under her watch. How did Harry Friedman get his position? Harry was contacted by an old friend, Sony Pictures Entertainment's then-CEO Alan Levine, around the time Nancy was dismissed. Shortly afterward (but not directly as a result of being contacted by Levine), Friedman became the show's producer for the last tapings of Season 12. He was promoted to co-executive producer (with Merv) in September 1999 and became the sole executive producer the following year after Merv retired. Sets and Sounds How many touch screens does the puzzle board have? 52: 12 on the top and bottom rows, 14 in each of the two middle rows. How big were the old puzzle boards? The original 1974 board used 39 trilons, spread across three rows. On December 21, 1981, this was expanded to 48 trilons across four rows (11 on the top and bottom, 13 in each of the middle two); four more trilons were added to the corners by September 2, 1982, bringing the total to 52. When was the curtain introduced? Sometime between January 6 and November 3, 1975. The original curtain had vertical strings of lights, which were removed sometime between June 7, 1976 and January 24, 1977. Why did some road-show bonus puzzles use the top two lines? The most likely answer is that this was done to increase visibility in larger venues. This practice was done from about 1990 to 1995; by the Hawaii shows in early 1996, two-line bonus puzzles once again used the middle two rows. Puzzles and Categories What was the first letter ever revealed? S, on the 1973 pilot. It was also the first letter given. Has anyone ever solved with no letters showing? At least one: the bonus puzzle BABY BOY on October 22, 1992. What was the shortest puzzle ever used? The shortest known main-game puzzle is SCRAM on March 24, 1995, while the shortest Bonus Round answer is AX sometime in Season 11. Have there ever been any puzzles without a vowel? At least one: the bonus puzzle MYTHS on April 9, 2004. What is the longest puzzle ever used? This depends on whether punctuation is considered a "space" on the board. * If it is, then the longest is SHE JUST WON A SEVENTH U.S. FIGURE SKATING CHAMPIONSHIP (Who Is It?, the answer being Michelle Kwan) on March 21, 2003, using 47 of the 52 monitors. * If it is not, then the longest is HERSHEY BAR GRAHAM CRACKER GOOEY ROASTED MARSHMALLOW (also the only appearance of What Are We Making?, the answer being S'mores) on October 23, 2007, at 46 letters. Which categories have been used the least? Besides the aforementioned What Are We Making?, Composer/Song and Show/Song were used only once each around March 1996. Gameplay Elements How do contestants know if a letter has been called? There is a monitor called the "Used Letter Board". After each letter is called, it is dimmed on the screen. If no more vowels remain in the puzzle, the vowels are dimmed even if all five had not yet been called. Although rarely seen on-screen, the board is often acknowledged by Pat. Why did some games in the 1990s have only three rounds? Three-round games were sometimes done to accommodate for home viewer sweepstakes. They were also done occasionally on road shows in the late 1990s due to time constraints. Has the host ever hit Bankrupt or Lose A Turn on the Final Spin? Many times, along with Free Play. It only seems like Pat never does because those invalid spins have always been edited out since 1997, when they were only edited out sporadically before that point. Pat also hit Prize wedges on occasion, and at least once landed on Surprise. Back when invalid Final Spins were aired, there was a running gag from 1977 through at least May 1985 where the Bankrupt slide whistle would play if it was hit. Airing bad Final Spins also led to notable incidents on June 14, 1990 and January 25, 1994 where Pat hit Bankrupt three times. His fourth attempt hit $5,000 on the former, and $1,500 on the latter. What happened if someone used the Double Play and hit a prize or token? While it never happened, the official rules stated that landing on a Prize wedge, Surprise, or Free Spin gave that player the choice of taking the token back or applying it to their next spin. The sole exception to this was the $10,000 Wedge, which doubled its value. How many people have tried to solve on Free Play? Two: November 24, 2010 and May 10, 2012. The first was correct, while the second was not. Why do they sometimes briefly cut to Pat in the Speed-Up rounds? To mask an edit of removing three incorrect letters, known as a "null" cycle, from the episode as aired. During the main game, cycles are often edited out if all three players consecutively make moves that do not affect their score or the answer (i.e., cycles consisting entirely of wrong letters, Lose a Turn, and/or Bankrupts with $0). When and why did the Bonus Round start offering RSTLNE? RSTLNE was first offered on both versions (daytime and nighttime) on October 3, 1988. The rule change was made because, under the original rules of asking the contestant for five consonants and a vowel, nearly every contestant would choose those letters. Have any bonus puzzles not used RSTLNE? While sporadic, a few did not contain RSTLNE. The first known instance was GUM on a Bob Goen-hosted daytime episode in 1991, and the last known instance is PIKACHU sometime in 2001. What happens if a Toss-Up is not solved? If the $1,000 Toss-Up is not solved, then the red contestant is interviewed first; if the $2,000 Toss-Up is not solved, then the red contestant starts Round 1; and if the $3,000 Toss-Up is not solved, then the contestant who started Round 1 starts Round 4. What is the record for the most amount of Bankrupt/Lose A Turn hits in one round? The record for Bankrupt is believed to be six, achieved on March 27, 1979 (Round 2), December 30, 2008 (Round 3), and October 4, 2011 (Round 2); the 2008 episode involved one Bankrupt from a Mystery Wedge. The record for Lose A Turn appears to be four, on November 13, 1989. What is the smallest amount by which a contestant has won or lost? Several contestants have won by a margin of $50. A win by $30 almost occurred on October 2, 2012, after a contestant tried to solve in the Speed-Up without calling a letter first. What happens if the game ends in a tie? A fourth Toss-Up is played between the tied players, with no cash value. This has only happened twice: March 13, 2003 and March 2, 2006. Category:Lists